You may want to think again before rolling through a stop sign on your sleepy neighborhood street. Most of us think that we won’t get caught. And even if we do get caught, its only a $35 dollar fine. That’s worth the risk, right?Wrong. Your roll through the stop sign on Monday morning won’t really get you to work any faster and it may end up costing you over $200. $238 to be exact.
How could this be? Let’s start with the actual fine; this is $35. Next, add on “state penalty assessment” that is $40—actually more than the $35 fine. Now add on the the “court operations fee,” which will run you $40. Your total is now up to $115. But that’s not all. You will be charged a “conviction assessment fee” that will be equal your fine of $35. Next is the “county penalty assessment,” which generally comes in at $28. Now add these up. All told, that $35 rolling stop will end up costing you at least $238.Perhaps you had a few beers after work with colleagues. You think you’re fine to drive, but get pulled over on your way home. The ticket will tell you the fine is $390. But with all the fines and fees, you’ll end up paying at least $1,674 just for the ticket. And if you can’t pay on time, you end up paying even more.
The state tacks on late charges of 50 percent for traffic tickets that are not paid within 20 days. And the late charges keep accruing if the ticket remains unpaid. Do you have $1,674 laying around?As anyone who has received a few tickets knows, this is nothing new. It did however come to many drivers’ attention recently when the state legislative analyst looked into California’s court-ordered debt collection. The state is owed, by not only crooks and criminals, but also drivers who haven’t paid off tickets, upward of $10.2 billion dollars in fines and fees.
Only $1.8 billion of the $10.2 billion levied has been collected. The state is focusing on tickets unpaid by those from whom they have the highest likelihood of collecting since many people cannot pay. Thus, they are focusing on more affluent areas such as Orange County. Cities in California are also discussing how to improve fee collection.
If you’ve received a ticket and have not yet paid up, contact an experienced California traffic ticket professional today.